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Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Yemen journalist close to Awlaqi on hunger strike: RSF

February 15, 2012

SANAA: A Yemeni journalist who was close to slain US-born radical cleric
Anwar al-Awlaqi and was jailed for five years last year for promoting Al-Qaeda
is on hunger strike, Reporters Without Borders said on Wednesday.

"Abdul Ilah Haydar Shae... has been on hunger strike since 12
February. He has stopped eating and drinking in an attempt to pressure the
authorities to release him," said the media rights watchdog (Reporteurs
Sans Frontieres, RSF) in a statement.

Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who will officially step down on
February 21, ordered the freeing of Shae a year ago.

But "he was kept in detention as a result of direct pressure from
the White House that began the day after the decree, when President Obama
voiced 'concern' about his possible release because of his supposedly close
ties to Al-Qaeda," RSF said.

RSF urged the Yemeni authorities to free Shae and deplored the
"interference" by the Unites States, which it said "does not
hesitate to violate freedom of expression in order to pursue its war on terror
and secure the cooperation of other countries."

On January 18, 2011 the court specialising in terrorism cases convicted
Shae, 34, of "working in the media for the benefit of Al-Qaeda, taking
pictures of security buildings, embassies and foreign interests in Sanaa, and
inciting Al-Qaeda to attack them."

After serving his five year prison sentence, Shae, employed by the
official news agency Saba and held in jail since August 16, is due to be placed
under house arrest for two years.

The journalist said in July 2010 that security agents had kidnapped and
beaten him.

"His health is deteriorating rapidly," RSF said on Wednesday.

A group of 146 journalists and activists also issued a statement
received by AFP on Wednesday calling for Shae's release.

"We warn that this decision (to go on strike) threatens his
life," it said. "We launch this campaign to call for saving his life
and releasing him."

"Haydar's analyses have refuted much of the lies promoted by the
media, thus embarrassing both the American and the Yemeni governments,"
said the statement, referring to attacks on Al-Qaeda hide-outs in Yemen.

Saleh has declared himself a US ally in its "war on terror" as
his troops, backed by US drones, continue to battle the extremists in the
country's southern and eastern provinces.

"Most victims of these attacks were innocent women and children who
have nothing to do with Al-Qaeda. The decision came to silence (Shae) after he
unveiled most of these crimes," the statement added.

"We urge all local, regional and international rights groups and
political parties to take up their duty towards this case," it said.

Shae, who specialises in terrorism, is considered one of Yemen's most
knowledgeable journalists on Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula -- the network's
local affiliate.

He is also known for his close ties to Awlaqi, the jihadist preacher
said by Washington to have been linked to a failed 2009 attack on a US-bound
airliner, who was killed on September 30 in an air strike in Yemen.